(Tom Sehmel)
Too old fashioned for today?
Ever been told that Christianity is old fashioned? That it isn't applicable for today? Perhaps you have thought this yourself, and are looking for today's answers. 
Think about these questions
- What are today's problems facing the world?
- What are problems you have to deal with?
- How do people deal with problems?
- How do you deal with your own problems?
People have been doing what they want to for a long time. People have been telling other people what to do for a long time. People have been trying to figure out who they are for a long. People have tried different solutions for a long time.
What makes today unique is you and me. How we deal with all of this stuff called life is what makes today's answers. For better or worse, quite a lot of people have already dealt with all sorts of issues in the past. Today's answers, if you poke around a bit, were figured out yesterday. Probably hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. To reject something just because it's old for something new is really just rejecting it for something else old. Even New Age religions are just dressed-up old religions.
Perhaps a better approach than rejecting the "old" is asking how yesterday's answers apply to you and me. It may take some work on our part to push past different ways to speak, or examples that aren't our really our problems. But you and I speak differently than the people around us, (different slang), and examples are alway something that is to be applied to our own unique situations. Afterall, were all unique.
Ever struggled with something you know is wrong, but you want to do it anyway? Ever wonder how you could possibly be good enough? Do you think that verbal abuse is something new? As the "old" TV line goes, "Been there. Done that."
The Bible have successfully been answering and helping people with their problems for thousands of years. It is still applicable, even today. And it will keep on being applicable when the next generation starts to call you "old fashioned."
Check these out
| "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good ... For what I do is not the good I want to do; no the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing ... What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" -- Romans 7:15-16, 19, 24-25 (NIV) |
| "An argument started amoung the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. Then he said to them, 'Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all - he is the greatest.'" -- Luke 9:46-48 (NIV) |
| "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife ... Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." -- I Corinthians 5:1, 6:18-20 (NIV) |
| "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." -- Ephesians 4:29-32 (NIV) |
